


if we were destined

by towokuwusatsuwu



Series: Femslash February 2018: Tokusatsu Edition [3]
Category: Kamen Rider Kiva
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Family Fluff, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 19:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13597167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Yuri comes back with Megumi in tow and finds herself taking in Maya and her children.





	if we were destined

Yuri had been expecting to come back to a disaster, all things considered, because she knows the people she left behind and the situation she walked away from. It was no longer her battle and she could only have her heart broken so many times before it would break pieces of her that she might not be able to put back together when she had the time. So she left everyone and everything behind with the thought she would build a new life somewhere else.

She drives back into town with her two-year-old daughter asleep in the backseat.

Most of the city was the same aside from infrastructure changes but it felt all too familiar to Yuri as she drive down familiar streets and took in sights she had not seen in years. It had been a cleansing experience to leave, and she holds that it was one of her better choices even though it had cost a lot for her to turn her back on everyone she cared about. In the end, it had been what was right for her. There are still afternoons when she is alone with her thoughts and she thinks too hard about the past, but for the most part she no longer feels her chest ache when she thinks of the song Kurenai Otoya had played on Bloody Rose.

It had been a necessary experience, as well. Megumi’s father had come into her life and had left just as quickly, but Yuri did not regret having been with another man even if he was not a man who stayed in her life. Better to have someone who was honest about his intentions from the very beginning than a man who seemed content to string her along for as long as he wanted to because choosing between her and Maya was too difficult for him. And the tryst had given her Megumi, the most important part of her life and the person who had anchored her to this world and given her a reason to keep trying her hardest every single day she woke up. Even now, Yuri feels secure in this city because she has her daughter with her, and she has to make sure everything goes well for Megumi’s sake. Not that their old home had been a bad one, but Yuri had never had the sense it was permanent and she wanted to come back home and give it one more chance now that the past has settled for her.

The cafe seems like a natural stop to make, so Yuri parks in the lot as close as she can to the door and takes a deep breath, reminding herself to stay calm. After all, she came back on her own terms and she is not going to let anyone ruin this for her. In the backseat, Megumi looks up from her stuffed teddy bear and meets Yuri’s eyes in the mirror, curious but not saying a word yet as if she senses the tension in the air. Well, none of that. Yuri smiles at her, as reassuring as she can, and when Megumi smiles back, she finds it in her to get out of the car.

“We’re going to get a bite to eat and see if any of Momma’s old friends are here,” she tells her, smoothing Megumi’s curls away from her face before kissing her forehead. Then she unstraps her, slings her bag over her shoulder— everything essential she needs for Megumi— and walks into the Cafe mald’amour for the first time in two years.

The cafe is everything Yuri remembers and she smiles fondly as she steps inside, the familiar scent of Kido’s coffee and the same wood polish in the air. Though she knew she needed time away when she left, it had genuinely hurt her to have to quit this job as it had become so natural to breeze through the doors whether to work or to receive an assignment from Shima-san. She had even managed to overcome her fear of dogs so she could stand to be around Buruman more often, but it had been necessary. She just has to keep telling herself that.

“It’s just the same as it was when I last left,” she murmurs, and Megumi looks up at her.

“Momma,” she says, and like any child she doesn’t bother to try to quiet or soften her voice, loud enough that a few of the nearby patrons look up at her, loud enough that Kido lifts his head from whatever he’s looking at, his jaw dropping when he sees her. But Megumi notices none of this, just puts her hand firmly on Yuri’s cheek to let her know she’s serious. “Hungry.”

“Let’s pick a table and sit down, then,” Yuri says, and Megumi nods up at her, calmed by her words and her voice, setting back into Yuri’s arms as Yuri carries her across the cafe like she’s walked through it a million times before in what is starting to feel like another lifetime.

“Yuri!” Kido rounds the bar to hurry up to her. “It’s been so long. Who is this? Your daughter?”

Megumi lets Yuri sit her down before loudly answering him herself. “I’m Megumi!”

“My daughter,” Yuri clarifies, and she hugs Kido tight and thinks that he hasn’t changed at all while she feels like everything has changed for her. “It really has been a long time. I should have called, or something. I just needed to get away for a while. But now… I’m back home.”

Kido smiles at her with such warmth that Yuri feels relief flood through her veins and the tension on her shoulders loosen enough for her to breathe. “It’s good to see you here. And your daughter is beautiful. What do you want to eat? I’ll bring it right out to you straight away.”

He ends up sitting with them after he brings them their food, and Megumi mostly ignores the adult conversation while she eats and chatters to her teddy bear. Kido tells Yuri things she already knew and some she had assumed: Otoya had died, Jiro hadn’t been seen for the entire time she had been gone, and Shima-san still came around each day, though he had been busy with a child of his own. That puts Yuri off, but just a little. Things change, after all.

“I have an apartment nearby, actually,” she says. “We’re just finishing moving in today.”

She had a moving company take the furniture from their old apartment to the new one, had it all set up where she wanted by marking places on blueprints, paid all of the extra fees that it would take to do this work because she had wanted to wait until the absolute last moment to come here herself. Part of her had been afraid of what she would find when she came here, had been afraid to face her old friends and the past she had left behind, but it isn’t as bad as she thought it would be. She might even be able to get used to it once again like she did before as long as fighting Fangire never comes back into her life. The thought has her stretching out a hand to stroke Megumi’s hair; she has a daughter to think about now.

* * *

Setting up the last of their belongings only takes so much time and even then, Megumi is full of energy and quick to get bored and she impatiently clambers up into Yuri’s lap and demands to go outside when all is said and done. The walk might be good for both of them, so Yuri gets Megumi dressed and repacks her bag and makes sure they have everything they need before locking up the apartment that does not quite feel like home just yet. They can make it feel like home, though. Megumi will eventually cover the refrigerator with drawings and Yuri will start hanging photographs and everything will be just fine. Baby steps. After all, it takes time and she knows this, and she also knows that she shouldn’t be so impatient with herself because she came a long way in just two years. What’s a little more time, really?

The park is a decent walk from their house, one that might be a little more difficult in colder weather but it’s spring and warm and there’s a cool breeze that lifts Yuri’s hair off of the back of her neck. She picks out a park bench to sit on, retrieves the novel she had been reading before they made the drive here, and tells Megumi to be good and to let her know if she needs anything. Though Megumi is her first child and Yuri still has concerns about her from time to time, Megumi had proven herself to be just as independent as Yuri had been at her age from what her mother used to tell her. She can hold her own, she stays out of trouble for the most part, and she always comes to Yuri when she absolutely needs her. She also knows better than to go near strangers, and for that Yuri is grateful because she doesn’t want to have to dust off her fighting skills in front of her little girl.

At the bottom of her bag, her Fangire Slayer waits just in case the worst case scenario comes true.

There had been no monsters in her life since she had walked away from this life, but she refuses to wear rose-colored glasses and knows very well that her reputation may very well precede her and coming home means dealing with that should it come up. Even without IXA, Yuri has always been able to hold her own in a fight and she is confident she can continue to protect herself if need be. Besides, none of the Fangire she had fought had ever seen what she was capable of when her child was in harm’s way.

The majority of their afternoon out goes as well as can be expected and Yuri is just finishing the last chapter in her book when a sudden, sharp scream rips her attention away, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She doesn’t have to think hard about the creature she sees charging out of the forest, all dark blue and violet glass on a monster body. But what catches her attention is the person running away from it, a small figure in all black, a long robe and a hood that obscures their entire appearance. She knows who it is without having to look.

As soon as the person falls, though, Yuri’s hand disappears into her bag for only a breath of a moment before she rises to her feet and takes off across the grass. The blade clicks into place like it has a thousand times before and she lashes out, the whip-like chain slashing the Fangire and sending them stumbling back. She positions herself between the two.

“This matter doesn’t involve you,” the Fangire snarls at her.

“You’re wrong.” Yuri doesn’t look behind her. She can’t afford to take her eyes off of the monster in front of her. “If you come any closer I’ll make you regret it.”

The Fangire laughs at her, a high-pitched cackling sound, and charges at her.

She has enough of her skills to stay on top of them, twisting her wrist to coil the whip as she pleases, slashing at them as soon as they come too close to her. In the end the Fangire flees and Yuri falls to her knees beside the figure still prone on the ground.

“Maya.” She pushes the hood back from the woman’s face. “Maya, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”

Megumi immediately leaps off of the jungle gym she had been climbing on to run over, though she hangs back a few inches once she gets near them. Yuri thinks Maya might be dead at first, but slowly, so slowly, a sickly pale hand rises to push tattered dark hair away from a face that she knows well even if she has never seen Maya looking so sick before.

One of her eyes is covered, though, and Yuri sees the dried blood just beneath the black cloth and her stomach twists at the sight. She helps Maya sit up and resists the urge to pull Maya into her arms; the two of them had been almost friends once, and she had been the one to tell Maya that she and Otoya ought to be together once and for all. It had been right for them.

For now, though, she bites down hard on her lower lip and reaches for Megumi, taking her daughter’s hand tightly in her own. “This is my friend Maya, and she’s hurt,” she says, and Megumi’s small face grows more serious, her brow furrowing as she endeavors to do her best to listen intently. “We need to take her home so I can help her, and I have to carry her. Can you hold onto my jacket while we walk? It’ll be okay. The monster won’t come back now.”

“The monster wasn’t even that scary,” Megumi says, and Yuri is bemused but she believes her.

“You’re right.” She had seen nastier. She turns her attention to Maya, gently patting her on the cheek. “Maya, I’m going to carry you back to my apartment. Is that okay with you?”

Maya seems to take a moment to focus on her. “Yuri… You came back?”

Yuri has more trouble juggling Maya’s weight with her bag and the constant glances down to make sure Megumi is right next to her over the blocks it takes them to get home, and if anyone finds it weird for Yuri to be caring a grown woman down the street, no one stops them. It’s better that no one does because Yuri would have no idea what to tell them if she could tell them anything at all, so when she manages to get Maya and Megumi home without incident she counts it as a win. Then she lays Megumi down for a nap with promises that _the pretty lady_ will be just fine when she wakes up, that Momma is going to take care of her.

“My daughter thinks you’re pretty,” Yuri tells Maya when she returns to the living room where Maya is sitting on the couch, listless and pale and scaring Yuri in more ways than one. “If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have left you behind. Maya, can you hear me?”

She moves as she speaks, getting a bowl and filling it with cool water from her kitchen sink, gathering up a few old dish towels she doesn’t mind losing when all is said and done, retrieving the bottle of hydrogen peroxide from under her bathroom sink. It’s almost painful to think of how used to this she is, patching people up, patching herself up, and that it isn’t just from having a rambunctious child. Well, it might not be the best life in the world, but it’s her life, and she has always endeavored to make the most of it that she could.

“Your daughter.” Maya turns to look at her when Yuri comes to sit on the coffee table in front of her, so close their knees are touching. “You left and you had a daughter… I wouldn’t have thought that. She was very beautiful from what I saw of her. What’s her name?”

“Megumi. Her father isn’t in my life anymore but that doesn’t matter to either of us. She said she wasn’t scared by that Fangire, and I believe her.” Yuri runs her fingers through Maya’s hair, careful not to pick at the tangles, tucking it back out of her face, eyeing the patch on her face.

Maya’s fingers rise to touch it and she smiles ruefully, looking down at her lap. “The wound isn’t what you think it is. That closed up months ago. I cut myself on the face when I fell, is all. You don’t have to look at it, though. I know it might be… Frightening.”

“It’s me, and I just want to help you.” Yuri firms up her resolve and reaches behind Maya’s head, tugging the elastic bands so the eyepatch comes up and off, revealing that the blood is from a cut on her cheek.

“It’s… Shima-san helped me see a doctor about it,” Maya says softly.

If Yuri is supposed to be horrified at the fact Maya’s eye is closed, she isn’t; she just focuses her attention on the cut, dabbing at it first with water to loosen up the dried blood and wipe it away from Maya’s skin. The peroxide is next to disinfect because she knows Maya is no longer a Fangire, no longer able to access the power that would have allowed her to heal the wound herself. Then she pastes a bandage over the cut, smoothing it out over Maya’s skin. Waterproof, too; she has a variety of them for Megumi but she had been thoughtful when choosing a bandage because from the looks of it, Maya might want a shower and a change of clothes. Running for her life constantly must have been taxing for her.

“I haven’t used our shower yet, but I know it works and I already stocked everything with soap. You can have a shower. The hot water should feel good.” Yuri tries for a smile and hopes it pulls through, though she has her doubts right now. “I’ll get you something to wear of mine. Do you have a preference for black, or can I just pick any colors out?”

Maya cocks her head at her. “You know helping me only puts your daughter in danger. So why?”

“Because I can’t just let you suffer when I can do something about it. Besides, Megumi was right. That Fangire wasn’t so scary after all.” Yuri stands and offers Maya her hand, and it feels almost right when Maya finally accepts and allows Yuri to help her to her feet.

She leaves Maya in the bathroom after getting her towels and showing her where everything is, then raids her own closet for something Maya can wear. Though it probably hardly matters to Maya, Yuri spends a few minutes picking through her clothing, debating about fabrics and what would be most comfortable for her, avoiding the handful of black pieces she actually owns because Maya deserves something to take her mind off of the tattered robes she had been wearing. Those go straight into the trash and Yuri doesn’t even feel bad about it. She finally just settles on a pair of dark red pajamas she had been given by a friend before leaving, satin slick beneath her fingers. She’d never worn them, afraid she might just slip out of bed.

She sets those and a pair of underwear on the bathroom sink counter then quietly closes the door, not wanting to disturb Maya. Shima-san had helped her see a doctor about her eye? That makes Yuri wonder if the man is still involved in Fangire extermination. Most likely so, but the fact he had helped Maya makes her curious as to what relationship the two of them had. Did he try to help her now that Otoya was dead, and Yuri had been so far away?

While she waits for Maya to come out of the bathroom, she checks on Megumi and is happy to find her sleeping contently, leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek, tucking her blanket a little more firmly around her before she cleans up the medical supplies she had laid out. By the time Maya finally emerges from the bathroom, Yuri has the apartment spotless once again.

She stumbles over herself when she sees Maya standing in front of her, looking more like herself and less like a wraith. Her skin is still too pale— food can fix that, and Yuri can cook— but her hair is brushed and soft and shiny around her face once again, and she looks a little more sure of herself in clothes that fit her better, if a little long because Yuri is taller.

“You look like you feel better,” Yuri ventures, because it’s easier to say out loud than admit to herself that Maya is beautiful in a way that has always made her feel vaguely… Uncomfortable.

Maya smiles, small but it’s there. “I do. A shower did me good. I don’t suppose I could trouble you for something to eat? It’s difficult to eat, and I wasn’t used to human food to begin with.”

She sits at the kitchen table while Yuri cooks for her, still too full to eat anything herself but also a little too anxious to hold anything on her stomach if she’s being honest. She sets a plate of food in front of Maya, hands her a fork and a spoon, and sits down across from her, propping her chin up on one hand. Of course, she was going to run into people from her past when she came home. How could she have expected Maya to appear out of thin air, almost?

“Thank you. It looks delicious.” Maya looks almost shy now. “I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“You aren’t. I was worried about you while I was away when I thought about it. I wondered if you were okay.” It’s odd to admit it out loud, but of course Yuri had worried. Maya had lost her ability to protect herself and her kind had always tried to chase her down after her betrayal.

Maya bites down on her lower lip, picking up a forkful of food but not quite bringing it to her mouth yet. “I do all right for myself. I’m still here, and Wataru is here, too.”

The mention of her son makes Yuri perk up just slightly; she had met the grown man from the future who had come back in an attempt to stop himself from existing after he had apparently gotten someone closed to him killed. Yuri is still fuzzy on all of the details, exactly, but is relieved to know that in the end, the boy had been born just the same.

“Where is he right now? How old is he?” Yuri asks her.

Talking about Wataru brightens Maya right up, as Yuri would have expected. “He’s a year and a half old. I asked Jiro to watch over him a little for me. He’s willing to from time to time.”

Yuri exhales slowly at the mention of Jiro. So he was still around, too, more or less. “If you want, you can bring him here with you. I’m sure Megumi would like someone to play with.”

“You make it sound like you’re trying to take us in and I just want to tell you that I absolutely don’t want you to do that if it means risking your daughter. I know better than most how that feels, after all.” Maya sets her fork down and leans away from the table, and Yuri frowns at how small she looks, how scared. “You didn’t deserve to be dragged into our problems in the first place. I won’t ask you to step into them now that he’s… That Otoya is gone.”

Does she think this is about him? “The past is the past. I don’t care so much about him anymore. I rarely think about him. I just want to help you and your son of my own volition.”

Uncertain, Maya picks her fork back up again. “Are you sure? We can make it on our own.”

“I’m sure.” Yuri nods once, but firmly. “We’ll go pick him up as soon as you eat, if you want.”

Slowly, Maya lifts her fork to her lips and takes a bite of her food, and Yuri nods to herself as she leans back in her seat, satisfied. This is inviting trouble back into her life, and she knows it. No part of her wants to leave Maya and Wataru helpless, though. It’s too cruel.

“Your food is so good,” Maya says, and she smiles, and Yuri’s heart flutters. Just a little.

* * *

Jiro brings Wataru to the doors of Castle Doran but does not step out of it, and Yuri doesn’t even bother to ask why; she doesn’t want to know too much about all of this. He sees her waiting beside her car and nods at her, and she nods back. It’s been a long time, but he hasn’t changed.

Wataru is beautiful, a pink-cheeked cherub with honey-colored hair who blinks up at Yuri with wide brown eyes before hiding his face away in his mother’s neck. He stays that way on the drive home, too, clinging to Maya so tightly she wonders how Maya had convinced him to go to Jiro. She drives more carefully than she ever has in her life and Megumi chatters endlessly from the backseat, asking Maya a thousand questions about Wataru that Maya seems happy enough to answer. It’s only at an intersection that she goes oddly quiet.

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” she says, slowly and uncertainly, “but Taiga has been staying with Shima-san. If… If you don’t mind… I didn’t have another choice, but I want him back.”

Yuri turns her car without a second thought, able to remember the directions to Shima-san’s house without having to ask. “Not a problem. Megumi, you hear that? Two playmates.”

She can worry about the logistics of feeding them all as time goes by later, but right now she wants to get them all back to her apartment, and from the way Maya leans back in her seat and sags, this must be the most relieved she’s felt in a long time.

This time, Yuri goes to the front door herself, and Shima looks surprised to see her. “Yuri?”

“I’m here to pick up Taiga. Maya’s in the car and she wants her son back.” Yuri pushes past him without a second thought, scanning the house as she moves from room to room, finding a little boy sitting by himself in the living room. “Are you Taiga? Your mother’s out in the car.”

Taiga has his mother’s eyes and the shape of his father’s face and Yuri does not want to think of the man robed in black leather who had almost taken everyone. “Momma? Really?”

“Maya asked me to watch after him,” Shima-san tells her, and Yuri only fixes him with a look before she picks Taiga up, balancing him easily in her arms. “Should I gather his things?”

“I’ll come pick them up tomorrow morning. Do you need anything for the night, honey?” she asks.

She lets Taiga guide her upstairs to his bedroom and lets him tell what he needs, packing it all into a bag with a change of clothing, a pair of pajamas for him to sleep in, and pointedly ignores Shima-san as he stands in the doorway watching her. It’s only when he touches her arm as she walks past him, Taiga in her arms once again, that she stops and looks at him. It isn’t that she means to be rude, but this man, watching a Fangire child? It’s not possible. It just isn’t.

“I was wondering if you would come back. I have something for you.” He leaves her standing in the hallway and she sighs, tapping her foot impatiently as she waits.

When Shima-san returns with a box in hand, Yuri takes it from him without a word and leaves the house with Taiga on her hip, already well aware of what this gift is. The weight of it is a memory and she tucks it into Taiga’s bag to examine at home; it had been destroyed when Otoya had lost used it and Yuri thought she would never see it again. But even if she does not like the idea of Shima-san with Taiga, the prospect of having something to protect Maya and her children with is a balm. Taiga squeals as soon as he sees his mother and Maya sweeps out of the car to take him, smothering his face in kisses.

Once home, Yuri tucks the IXA fist into her bedside table to wait.

* * *

Maya stops sleeping in the guest bedroom when it becomes apparent that Taiga and Wataru need the guest bedroom to themselves, and putting her on the couch seems unfairly cruel. Yuri’s bed is big enough for two people, anyway, and it isn’t so bad not falling asleep alone anymore even though she has to keep reminding herself that Maya is just a friend.

Kido had let Maya take up Yuri’s old job while Yuri had already figured out a new career before coming back here; the kids typically hung out at the restaurant playing with Buruman while Yuri still tried to figure out what kind of preschool program would be good for the three of them. She learned how best to crack through Wataru’s anxious, shy little shell and Taiga, who had been strangely quiet when he first came to stay with them, talked openly and happily and his eyes lit up when Yuri came to get them often enough that Yuri felt fine about picking him up to kiss him.

Megumi loved them, too. Yuri didn’t think it would be possible to separate the three of them.

It had been a long week but tomorrow is Saturday and Yuri is pleased at the prospect of a comfortable three-day weekend with her makeshift family. Maya is already dressed for bed; she had taken to the satin pajamas far more than Yuri and only teased her a little about going to sleep in a tank top and boxer shorts, which Yuri thought was far more comfortable than any set she had ever owned. Maya looks so at ease in her bed, in her home. _Their_ home.

“You’ve worked miracles on Taiga, I think,” Maya tells her, lounging on top of the bedspread, her hair a dark halo around her head. “You know, he really does like you. I wasn’t sure if he would be okay. I felt so bad leaving him behind like I did, but I didn’t want anything to happen to him. He already dealt with enough as an infant. But he’s so happy now. So at peace.”

“Taiga’s a good boy. He’s a little quiet sometimes but he has a big heart in him, and he’s a sweet kid.” Yuri finishes running her hairbrush through the ends of her hair, which is finally dry after the indulgent shower she had taken right after coming home. “Wataru is, too. He’s so cute. I think he might have Otoya’s love of music. He has very particular tastes when we’re in the car and the radio is going. I’ve never seen Megumi let anyone else pick music, either.”

By the time she slips under the comforter, Maya has already snuggled herself underneath it, looking unfairly cute in a way that Yuri doesn’t expect from her. Maya had always been beautiful in an ethereal way, clearly not human, but now she looks so soft and warm and comfortable.

Yuri had been struggling with thoughts not unlike this one for a while now; the urge to protect Maya, to comfort her, to hold her and touch her and see her smile. There had been fleeting thoughts about other women in the past, that they were beautiful, that Yuri felt strange around them in a way she had never felt around men, not precisely in the same way or with the same fervency. Maybe it’s that she knows Maya better, or maybe it’s that Maya is unlike any woman Yuri has ever met before, but the urges are always stronger with her, lingering when Yuri wishes they would leave her alone and stop complicating her new life. Her fingers twitch; she wonders what it would be like to run them through Maya’s hair, to touch her cheek.

“What is it?” Maya asks her, and Yuri blinks, startled, her mouth starting to open before it closes again. “You look like you’re thinking very hard about something, and that’s not really a recipe for a good night’s sleep. Is there something you want to talk about before bed?”

Yuri chews on her lower lip in thought, debating about whether or not she wants to speak about it out loud when soft fingers on her jaw make her freeze. Maya tugs her lip free of her teeth and Yuri feels the heat in her face, just a slight warmth, but there nonetheless. It makes her really look at Maya, always a little relieved to see the color back in her face, the light back in her eye, the way her lips lift in smiles more often than they twist down into frowns now.

She sighs and presses her cheek against her pillow, closing her eyes. Honesty. Honesty should be easy, right? “I think sometimes that I might have feelings for you, but I don’t know. I’ve never been with a woman before, and I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything.”

“I don’t feel like I do, so no worries.” Maya’s hand lands on the side of her face, so soft, the pressure light and delicate. “I’ve been with women before, in the past, but only a few.”

“I know that I care about you, and I’m happy when I’m with you. I’m glad you’re here, and that you’re happy now.” Yuri opens her eyes, searches Maya’s face. “Is that love? Can it be?”

Maya runs her thumb over Yuri’s lower lip and it makes Yuri’s heartbeat quicken. “Of course it can be. If that’s how you feel for me. You’re a wonderful woman. I would feel privileged.”

Yuri swallows hard and tries again. “Then I think I’m in love with you, Maya.”

Maya smiles at her and her fingers drift over Yuri’s face before slipping under her hair, curling warm and sure against the back of her neck. The offer is there, written all over her face, but it takes Yuri a moment to unfold herself, stretch out an arm to wrap around Maya’s waist to pull her closer. She’s so soft and warm and this feels good, feels right even if Yuri is nervous and a little unsure. She takes a breath so steady herself, then dips her head down to kiss Maya.

This, impossibly, feels better than anything else. Maya’s lips are soft and just a little sweet from whatever lip gloss she had wiped off before bed, and she presses herself close, opens her mouth, teases Yuri’s tongue with her own and moans softly when Yuri deepens the kiss and pulls her closer, holds her tighter. It feels like this is what she had been waiting for but afraid to let herself have for so long, like this was the natural resolution.

Maya’s hands are in her hair and Yuri’s arms are around her so tight that she doesn’t think she could separate their bodies after this if she tried. When she breaks to breathe, Maya doesn’t hesitate, just starts kissing and nuzzling into her neck. She sucks hard over Yuri’s pulse and Yuri shudders, her skin awash with goosebumps at the sensation. It’s been long, too long…

“For what it’s worth, Yuri,” Maya murmurs into her skin, “I know that I love you.”

Yuri falls asleep twined together with Maya, her chin tucked on top of Maya’s head while Maya breathes slow and even and warm against her throat.


End file.
